=Part 1= =A Fragile Coastal Retreat= =4= A Cape for All Seasons 7 =Part 2= =A Great Arm in the Sea= =20= A Sliver of Sand 23 The Bountiful Sea 45 The Cape’s Transformation 69 A Glacial Base 26 The Restless Shore 28 Wampanoag Indians 32 Pilgrims First Landing 34 The Cape Cod House 38 Whaling’s Heyday 48 Cape Codders and the Sea 50 Fisheries 54 Saltworks 56 A Coastline Littered With Shipwrecks 60 Lighthouses and Lifesaving 62 Two Henrys: Thoreau and Beston 72 The Cranberry Bog 74 Marconi’s Wireless Station 78 =Part 3= =Guide and Adviser= =84= Visiting Cape Cod 86 Map of the National Seashore 88 The National Seashore 90 Water Activities 92 Whale-Watching 94 Recreation Ashore 96 Birdwatching 98 Orleans, Brewster, and Chatham 100 Eastham and Wellfleet 102 Truro and Provincetown 104 Nearby Attractions 106 Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket 107 Safety, Other Management Concerns 108 Armchair Explorations 109 Index 110 [Illustration: =Preceding pages=: _The sun sets over Provincetown and the towering Pilgrim Monument. Such tranquil scenes can be misleading, for the Cape is a place of shifting sands and struggling grasses._] Part 1 A Fragile Coastal Retreat [Illustration: (Grasses on a sand dune.)] [Illustration: _Summer, fall, winter, spring, the interaction of the sea and the land is clearly evident on Cape Cod’s Outer Beach._]